The Remarkable Respiratory System.

Each of these six books begins with the same introductory pages where the reader meets the Body Buddies—cartoon characters representing the various systems of the body. The character representing the system of interest in each book then leads the reader through descriptions about the structure of the system and how it works. Some books include historical facts and beliefs about the system, diseases related to malfunctioning of the system, and/or recommendations on how to keep that particular system healthy. The pages are very colourful and contain bright drawings of the various body parts and pictures of children illustrating information on the pages.

Additional pieces of information are found in each book. One learns in The Amazing Circulatory System a bit about the history of heart transplants, in The Astounding Nervous System about how your five senses work, in The Dynamic Digestive System about the importance of proper nutrition (though it recommends the American Food Pyramid for information, not the Canada Food Guide), in The Exciting Endocrine System about how hormones affect almost all aspects of life including growth, energy levels, moods, and sleep patterns, in The Mighty Muscular and Skeletal System about how bones and muscles influence each other, and about the different types of joints we have in our bodies, and in The Remarkable Respiratory System about how to improve one’s breathing and about the health risks associated with smoking.

Each book has a page called “Fabulous Phrases” where the reader fills in the blanks for various sentences that mention the system of interest. Some of these phrases are unlikely to be familiar to children reading the books. The phrase page in the endocrine book was a different format. It was again a fill in the blank activity, but it tested knowledge learned in the book and provided a clue to the page where the answer could be found. This seems like a more educational and useful activity. The books end with a page of amazing facts about the system of interest, a glossary, an index, and recommendations for other sources of information.

These books are supposed to relay complicated physiological information in a manner that is accurate yet still easily understood. The level of success varies among the books. In some the writing is quite technical and relies heavily on the glossary to provide clarification of terms, while in others the language is much more simple. Each book has several “Be a Scientist” sections that describe activities children can perform to better understand the body’s systems. Some of these are not really experimental in nature. For example, a description of how to wash your hands, while important, does not really qualify as an experiment which will help a child act like a scientist.

Overall, it is a decent series, and when supplemented by the interactive games on the recommended websites, children will have a fun time learning about their body systems. It is graded at Guided Reading Level R, for grades 4 to 6. The look and feel of the books, and the body buddy character guiding the reading, may seem a bit juvenile for the upper range of this age group when compared to levels assigned to other books. Recommended with reservations.